Riverside: 590nm

I was out at the riverside the other day, and I carried my Kolari Pocket infrared camera along with me. I've been shooting black and white 850nm photos recently, and decided I wanted a little color today. This time, I brought along my 590nm filter.

Water always looks interesting in infrared, and since it was a sunny day (albeit with a few clouds), I was hoping for some fun, colorful results.

Temple roofs and skyscrapers stand out against an infrared sky. A bright and cloudless sky is ideal for infrared photography, but sometimes clouds can add something interesting to the image.

Construction on the Sathorn "Ghost Tower" was halted during the 1997 Asian Economic Crisis, and never resumed. Today, what was envisioned to be Bangkok's new luxury condominium building is an eerie abandoned shell of a tower. It's said to be haunted, or at least cursed, as it was built on the site of a former graveyard.

Richer colors came out as the sun crept out from behind a cloud, turning plants and trees on the riverbanks an orange-salmon, and making the Chaophraya look cleaner and bluer than it has ever been. It doesn't even look like Bangkok without that signature muddy brown water!

I took the free shuttle boat up the river to ICONSiam, a new mega-mall right on the riverside. It's been a very serious monsoon season, and the river is very high right now. It was a little creepy to see how fast the normally lazy waters of the Chaophraya River were rushing towards the sea. It seemed like the little boat was moving slowly against the heavy rushing water.

The piers at ICONSiam, where shuttle boats stop on the journey between the Central Pier, Lhong 1919, and Chinatown.

I looked out across the river while waiting for the free shuttle boat to pick me up and bring me back to the Central Pier.

The Chaophraya is always busy with boats of all sorts - shuttles, barges, cruises, and more. It's never boring to sit and water the activity up and down the country's most important waterway.

A police boat docked by the riverside, ready to respond to an emergency.

Hotel shuttle boats like this one cruise up and down the river, carrying guests for free from their hotels to the central pier.